RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Hey Dennis I clicked on the third picture in my 11/25 post that looked like it was missing and it opened up. Here are some pix. from last Friday. John made yet another set of intakes. I sheeted the top of my intakes, and the work you and John did on his fuse showing FW-1 installed with some trailing edge. Let's see if these pix. upload.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Thats a pic. of John working on his nose gear install. Here is Johns T.E. pic.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Saturday John and Dennis came over and worked on Johns panther. They forged along with more sheeting on the fuse. and they also started to sheet over the intakes. I finished sheeting the bottom of my intakes and almost all of the fuse. Next for me will be to line up the wings for mounting. Hal and Vladimir carved the canopy plug out of blue foam. It is 1/4" smaller than the final shape and coated in epoxy. The epoxy will keep the bondo body filler from melting the foam. The bondo will make up the last 1/4" of the plug and bring it to its final shape.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Well the pix. won't upload. I'll get them up here when the site is working.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Here are the pix. from the last post.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Thanks for the Pics...

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

On Saturday another ground hog day for Dennis and Mr fun. More sheeting and another intake layup. they did start to build up the vertical on Johns plane and also spread some bondo an Hals foam canopy plug to harden it and start to get it to final rough shape Hal will get it to final shape with some templates he made. I cut open F-1 after glassing the nose. this exposed the box to locate some heavier components. I also keyed the nose in that will cover the opening and give me access. I worked on my wing plug ins that will be glued into the foam cores and then ground down to the airfoil shape. I also made a few plywood tools to cut the spar slots for the stab and wiwgs

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

I had to extend my work bench to get the wing over the table. I took the plywood scabs(seen in a pic. from the last post) and butt glued them to the aluminum. Then I glassed both sides with 2oz. cloth. I plugged them into the fuse and jigged up the wing where I thought it looked right. Some people were saying 4 degrees dihedral so that sounded reasonable to me. Once it was there I marked the plywood on the top and bottom at the wing surface. I then removed everything and remarked the lines on the plywood another 1/8" smaller then capped it with 1/4" balsa. I reinstalled the plug ins into the fuse with some cling wrap between them and the fuse. To make the cling wrap less clingy and make it lay flat I just got it dusty from the work table and the floor. I then smeared on some urethane glue and repositioned the wing. where there was a bit more of a gap I stuck in some balsa scraps. Soon after the glue worked as advertised and started expanding out of the cracks. now all I have to do is let it cure and then grind it down flush with the surface of the wing.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

And here is the left wing............ Just to back up a little. when I made the slots with the plywood saw I first took an xacto knife and cut away the balsa wing skin. Then I started the slot with a hacksaw blade the full length. Then I finished with the plywood saw. You might ask, why bother? It is because the plywood saw is the same size as the material getting glued in.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Hey guys we have another big Panther going. Check out Roberts in Europe. I think it is Poland. Unfortunately I cant read what they are saying. Robert emailed me asking where to get landing gear. It looks like he wants something to drop in so I told him to check into Spring Air. As we are going in a bunch of different directions with our gear.


[link]http://pfmrc.eu/viewtopic.php?t=34201&postdays=0&postorder=asc&sta rt=0[/link]

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

I talked to Vladimir, He said the Polish Panther is a little smaller than ours.............. The boys had more discussion on the canopy shape. Then Hal went at it with a sanding block with his own ideas. I got both wings to plug in on my fuse. I also shaped my foam nose. This will be a good place to get rid of extra resin from time to time. I will just have some extra cloth cut and ready to go on the nose. I cut the elevators off the hoz. stab and installed a servo tray for the elevators. the tray is about 2.5"x6".I picked out all the foam in this area all the way down to the top sheeting and then made some legs for the tray(like a table) then glued it in and back filled it with some balsa. I will put one servo on each side. putting them here moves them 3" closer to the control surfaces than where the plans would show in the fuse. John A. started closing in and mounting his vert. stab. after that is done him and Dennis will finish sheeting the back end of Johns fuse. John had everything on the back and was holding up his rudder. so they are passing me up on the tail of the plane.............as John would say "hurrry Joe, hurry hurry!"

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

<div>Hi, </div><div>
</div>This is a great project you ppl are starting :))) <div>
</div><div>RC Dan put it on RC Book, where I found it.</div><div>
</div><div>I'll be following this build :)))</div><div>
</div><div>DaBeast</div>

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

I did some work on my hoz. stab by adding some triangle stock to hinge into in front of the hinge line. the pockets were a little oversized and then backfilled with lite filler. It will also eventually get a hinge cover. and then get glassed over.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

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RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

I was able to hinge my elevators now I need to round them off and glue on a hinge cover. I cut all the parts out for my vertical including the all important FR-7(just kidding). Vladimir made a few more 200 oz. fuel tanks. they are very nice with baffles installed to keep the fuel from sloshing around. They also have a machined aluminum opening for access. I think this is #3 and 4 on the tanks so he has one more to go. A little more bondo was added to the canopy plug to get it close to final shape by Vladimir. Now Hal will take it and primer it to continue fine sanding it. I had to move my table away from the wall to get my vertical stab location over the table so I could start building it up and squaring it. There are a few home made pieces under FR-5&6 to hold them and square them. But when you are scratch building you can do what ever you want . I had to open a few locations in the tail for a place to run Elevator and rudder servo leads. there should be plenty of room since the elevator servos are in the stab. The servo tray in the vertical is for the rudder servo.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

here are the pics.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

My airframe is in Joe's basement and I didn't want to fall behind so I worked some on my wing foam cores here at my house. We'd hot wire cut them earlier in the build. I laid out my sheeting in the foam beds from the core and trimmed and taped them using masking low tack tape (no CA gluing edges). It was pretty cheap at Hobo only 1.50 a roll. I lightly block sanded the ridges (leftovers from the wire cutting process)on the cores with 100 grit paper and removed the sanding dust. I then coat the sheeting with epoxy (US Composite) and scrape most of it off. I do like to leave the periphery a bit wet-just to keep the edges glued well. Here's a pic of the sheeting in the bed.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Here's a couple of photos of the bagged cores. I'm a traditionalist and have always bagged the cores in the beds. I use a set up I put together some 15 years ago. The bags and bag clips are from Aerospace Composites. It consists of a nylon vacuum bag sealed at both ends with plastic rods, allowing you the ability to open and seal the bag at any time-to reposition the core for example. My pump was a surplus vac pump I purchased cheaply. I bought a vacuum pressure on off switch and made a vacuum reservoir tank from pvc pipe(its painted black in the image). I don't have a basement to conceal the noise so I like that the pump doesn't run all night long. If you have a well sealed bag it might turn on only a couple times per hour for a minute or two. The vacuum is maintained by the reservoir tank not directly by the pump so the bags don't lose much during the process. After curing overnight they're ready to removed and worked on.


I've removed the cores and they're ready to get the slots cut for the aluminum wing bars for the plugins.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Another Saturday night. My fuse. got kicked off the big table so John could put his up there and start lining up his wings. He put it up on blocks to hold it level. He also sanded 4 degrees into the root of the foam core so it will butt against the fuse. Don't be intimidated by the laser . It was used to extend a line onto the foam core from the plug in on the fuse. The line is where John will cut the wing open to install the aluminum bar. He was kidding when he asked for a laser but I had one laying around so I whipped it out and he used it. The laser is also good for drawing panel lines on curved surfaces. It's a cheap one I got at Menards............ John Roth came over and worked on his stab. Vladimir and Hal came over to show off the canopy plug. It really looks good. Forgive me but I don't remember to get the camera out to take pics. of everything.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Here is my latest pix of my Panther. 3/9/2011 - Vladimir

http://images1.snapfish.com/23232323...A7638335nu0mrj

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Well it has been 4 months since I had time to work on the Giant Panther, between my regular job and teaching snow skiing, I have not had much time for models. I will try to work a little everyday on the Panther and with all of the help I have been getting; I hope to fly it this summer.

I did get Dennis and Joe to help me Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunday was spent working on the Horizontal Stab; we glued the halves together, glued the tips on and installed the rear spar.
Monday Joe installed the front spar and filled the stab.

Dennis and I installed the bottom stringers on Monday and spent Tuesday and Wednesday installing the sheeting over the stringer section. I have not started the winglet section because I have to install the wing mounting channels. The biggest problem now is I can not find the mounts.

Joe vacuum bagged my wing cores and as soon as I remember were I put the mounts I can mount the wings.

I am hoping to mount the wings and finish the fuselage sheeting on Sunday 3-13-2011.

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

why, I cant look it

RE: 1/4 scale F9F Panther build
 

Over the last two building sessions I bagged John Roths wings. I did it the radical way with the cores out of the saddles and the vacuum pump running all night at 6". With the extra resin I glassed my nose. John Abrahamian was able to glue his plug in bars into his wings and set the angles. Hal took a little time to sheet a small section of John Abrahamians fuse and when he was done John commented that the section looked like it didn't need any filler. Maybe we all should have been paying attention to what Hal was doing. John Roth came over and worked on putting servo trays in his stab. Later we all sat down to have something to eat.